China housing official jailed 25 yrs over corruption

ZHENGZHOU -- A former housing administration official in central China's Henan Province was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power.

Zhai Zhenfeng, former director of the housing bureau in Erqi District in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, was found guilty of embezzling 37 million yuan ($6 million) of public funds, according to the Zhenzhou Intermediate People's Court.

He accepted 70,000 yuan in bribes and offered 330,000 yuan to other officials, the court found.

The court ruled that Zhai's 13 houses and 5.5 million yuan in illegal gains, which included the proceeds of selling other houses, should be seized.

Zhai has not yet revealed if he will file an appeal.

Three others, implicated in Zhai's corruption, were given prison terms ranging from four to seven years.

Zhai's case was exposed in December 2012 after a woman on a popular social network boasted that her daughter, who was born in the 1990s, owned 11 apartments in a public housing project in Zhenzhou.

Investigators later uncovered that three members of Zhai's family owned 29 houses under multiple identities, which sparked fierce public outrage.